RENEGADE "ANGEL"

Mr. Crowley, PART II

Now Cora knew she had no choice. Lilith and her demons were purposely baiting the Winchesters, knowing full and well that they would go after her. Either she was a diversion, or she was the key.

Cora just needed to know which she was.

She told her brothers she needed some fresh air and started walking. She had no destination in mind. She just knew that if she tried contacting Crowley with her brothers or Castiel nearby, it wouldn't go over well for anyone involved.

Cordelia walked for thirty minutes, stewing in her thoughts and her worries. Lilith and her hounds had dragged Dean to Hell, where he'd been tortured and tortured in return. Even if Lilith wasn't a source of information in terms of the breaking of the Seals—which Cora became more and more certain she was the longer she walked—Cora couldn't wait to get ahold of the demon. Just the thought of her and the thought of what she had put Dean through made Cora's rage simmer just beneath her skin. It had long been known since the Winchesters began hunting that harming Dean meant making Cora's kill list. If it had been long enough for a demon to think that fate could be escaped, it just meant Cora needed to get back into practice.

Cora sat down on a park bench and ran her hand over the knife tucked under her shirt. Wouldn't it be great to just—plunge—its obscenely sharp blade into Lilith's smug, childish face—?

"Are you going to call me or fantasize about killing your brother's killer all night?"

Cora jumped. "Crowley!"

"Hello, darling," he said, sitting beside her.

"How'd you know I was going to—?"

"Because you're in trouble. Dean's in trouble. Sam's in trouble."

Cora looked down at her feet. "Alright, fine. I'm predictable. Can you tell me anything?"

Crowley folded his hands into his lap. "That depends on what you want to know."

"I thought you knew everything," Cordelia snorted.

"I'm not omniscient, Cora. My information comes from my network of demons, so I know slightly more than you do, but I don't know everything."

Cordelia sighed. "Fine. There's a few things."

"Get listing, darling, I don't have all night. I do have demons to oversee, now that Lucifer's coming back."

"You think we can't stop him?"

"If you don't crack these Seals, no, you can't."

"That's the first thing. These Seals. We don't know what they are, where they are, who they are, how they're being opened, so how the hell are we supposed to stop them?"

Crowley pondered for a moment. "Follow a high-ranking demon, I suppose," he said at last. "One extremely close to Lucifer."

"Like yourself?"

"What? No! I'm just a crossroads demon. The king, yes, but crossroads aren't enough to get you all that close to our overlord."

Cordelia chewed on her cheek. "So someone like Lilith, then."

"I...suppose so," Crowley said warily.

They sat in uncomfortable silence for several heartbeats.

"Is she the answer, then? The key to solving it all? Finding out the Seals, finding out how they're broken, finding out how to keep them from breaking?"

Crowley cleared his throat and fixed his tie before he even bothered to speak again. "Lilith is a key. Not the key you're looking for. But she could be a key."

"To what, Crowley?"

"Your revenge."

"My—my what?"

Crowley barked out a laugh. "You're not fooling anyone, Cora, and especially not yourself. You have been angry and you have wanted vengeance for what happened to your brother in Hell. Your hate is so much stronger than Sam's. Suppose that comes with being Dean's twin and all."

"Cut to the chase, Crowley."

"You want someone to pay for what Dean went through—understandably so. And Lilith makes a good target. But..."

"But?"

"There is a better target. And he could tell you exactly what happened to Dean, and why Dean broke the First Seal."

Cordelia remained quiet.

"You haven't told them he did, did you?"

"How could I?" she snapped. "Dean already shoulders too much! If I tell him this, he'll blame himself for what he did down there to break it."

"Well, then," said Crowley, absurdly pleased by this knowledge, "then you must go after this target. He'll tell Dean everything he needs to know, and you won't feel the guilt, and Dean will take his own revenge. You can help if you'd like, but I think you'll find Dean is more than apt to do it himself."

"Who is it, Crowley?"

"His name is Alastair."

"Alastair? Supreme torturer in Hell?"

Crowley nodded. "That's the one."

"You mean to tell me the best torturer in all of Hell is the one responsible for my brother's suffering?"

"He did it on Lilith's orders, so feel free to carve out her heart and keep it in a glass jar on your desk, too."

Cordelia threw her head back, heaving a sigh. "You can't be serious."

"Dead serious."

Cora groaned. "I want to break something."

"Well, I just leave then, I'd rather not be broken."

"Not you, you prick."

They sat once more in silence, though this one was more of an anxious comfort, a silence not entirely unknown to them.

At last, Crowley said, "You said there were more questions."

Cordelia stirred. "Oh—yes. Castiel says I have a guardian angel."

"Does he now?" Crowley's voice had gone up in pitch, a tell Cora picked up on immediately.

"He won't tell me who it is."

"Of course not."

"Do you know?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me?"

"No."

Cordelia threw her hands up into the air. "Oh, come on!"

"No, Cora."

"I hate you creatures."

"Good for you."

"Stuck up know-it-alls who won't help a single soul."

Crowley made a face. "I just told you about Alastair, didn't I?"

"Oh, shut up."

Sighing, Crowley got to his feet. "Look, darling. You wanna find your angel? You've gotta go looking for him. Only he can reveal himself to you."

Cordelia flicked lint off her sleeve. "Up until a few months ago, I didn't believe humans had specific guardian angels. But since I met Castiel, it's all I can think about."

"They're not guardian angels in the sense you're thinking of," Crowley explained. "They know you inside and out, but they don't interfere. Sometimes they guide, a good impulse or feeling or thought about something. But they don't protect you. Finding your angel might not do you any good, Cora. Think about that before you go running after him."

Crowley left without another word, disappearing into the inky black night.

"Whoever he is," Cora whispered, and stayed on the bench another ten minutes before heading back to the hotel room.